Sneak Peek

It's been another {busy but good} week! B started off the week in Dallas for a business trip and I was in Chattanooga for a sweet shower for Nelson! We hit the ground running at work and in my "free" time I have been working with Mama Sue on putting the nursery together. Now that we've had a moment to focus, we have been two ladies on a mission! Here's a "sneak peek" of our new favorite room...aka: Nelson's nursery! Seeing all these pieces come together make the fact that we're going to have a baby soon, all the more real! 

In other news, we now have cable {it's been a year without it} and B is enjoying having his "cave time" again where he can actually watch sports and shows like "American Pickers" on the TV instead of the laptop. Works out great for me so that I can use the computer while he watches and we get to be together...without me sitting over his shoulder wondering how much longer he's going to be on the laptop watching his sports on there. Hilarious! 

Thankful for a weekend to rest and relax in our own home this weekend. Reason 598 that we love where we live...there's a pool! On these 100+ temperature days, it sure is delightful to go take a swim. People keep reminding us how few and far between these moments will be before long. Even though we hear what they're saying, we must say...we are all smiles around these parts about our baby boy's upcoming arrival. Soon and very soon he will be in our arms. Thank you for your continued prayers for our growing family. Eeek! We are so excited! 

Yard Sales, Nesting & Lots of Baby Movement

It's been a full week! We have been given the opportunity to "serve the other" on many occasions! We'll recap a few of the highlights...

For starters, Saturday morning when B went to play basketball with the guys, I went around to a few yard sales. While driving from one to another, I passed by one that had not been on my list to go to. It looked like a good one so I pulled over and parked. While I was doing a quick glance through, my eyes spotted one of the items that I had been looking for...a changing table! We have a dresser that we had considered painting but I was all for going ahead and getting this precious "Jenny Lind Changing Table" that was already white (like we wanted!!) and having one less project to work on! HA! I knew when I saw it that I would go ahead and jump on it if was $20 or less! Bargain shopper!! When I asked the people how much it was, the man told me $10!!! Holy cowabunga...let's load this on in the car! So he put it in the car and I didn't like the way it was facing because I felt like it may fall whenever I started driving...but he insisted that it was in a fine position and would make it home a-ok. I drove slow and tried to take the turns easy...but about five minutes into my drive...I heard the whole changing table take a tumble...a loud tumble. I was almost to the place where I was picking up B from basketball so I stayed the course and was just cringing. Even though I had only spent $10, I was so excited about this purchase and the last thing I wanted to find when I opened up the door was a cracked and crumbled changing table. When I got to Brandon, he was sitting out front of the gym with one of his buddies. I think he could tell by the look on my face that something was up. I started off with, "Hey yall! Babe, I'm about to cry..." and then the tears just came! I explained what happened and he very calmly hugged me and said, "Oh babe, it's going to be ok...let's go take a look at it"...Sure enough, we opened the back of the car and despite the loud crashing sound it had made, the changing table had NOT broken!!! PHEW! I felt pretty embarrassed for breaking down over this (especially in front of the friend) but I think the fact that I am pregnant helped explain a lot of the tears! As we drove off...B even said, "Sweet Whitty! What a marriage moment!" ...I am so thankful to report that the changing table was all in one piece but more so than that, how sweet Brandon was in that moment...and throughout this whole pregnancy journey. His patience and love towards me has been amazing. 

Nelson's Changing Table! 

So then we move along into Monday...! I came home from work that day with FULL energy! Don't ask me where it came from...I truly have no idea! I think it would certainly fall into the "nesting" category! For starters, the other week we had a friend drop off dinner for us...just because! It was the biggest blessing to have that unexpected meal provided and we were able to eat off of it for a couple of days. It made me think about how this would be a great time to seize the moment of any extra energy and make some meals now to keep in the freezer for these final weeks before Nelson's arrival. I know how sweet people are to bring meals once you have a baby - but in these weeks where (for the most part) I am t-totally wiped out at the end of the day, it would be awesome to have some pre-ready dishes in the freezer to whip out and serve my husband who feels LOVED when food is on the table when he walks in the door from work! All that to say...I spent about 4 hours on Monday afternoon COOKING! I whipped up some casseroles and my Mimi's famous spaghetti recipe! Stocked our freezer FULL and still had energy to spare to even clean the dishes...whoo! Again, no idea where this all came from! I truly love cooking when I have the energy. It's fun when you're on a roll! When Brandon walked in the door on Monday evening, I don't think he could even believe his eyes!!! With his love language being "acts of service" (aka: FOOD)...he felt extremely loved and cared for. It was a blessing to be able to serve him this way!  

Some of the cooking action that was happily welcomed in the Nall kitchen! 

We'll close today by sharing that not a day goes by these days without us taking (lots of) moments to pause in our marriage and thank the Lord for this precious gift of life He has given to us! Nelson has been moving and a groovin' for quite sometime now but over the past couple of weeks he has really been quite the free entertainment for us! I was able to capture a little video the other day of him in action. There are NO words to describe what a blessing he already is to our family! "Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare." -Psalm 40:5 ...We can't wait to meet you in just a few short weeks, Nelson!!! 

A Joyous Celebration!

One week ago today, family and friends were gathering on Lookout Mountain for the joyous celebration of Parker & Liz's wedding week! Parker is my dear brother and Liz is his beautiful bride, my new sister! It's true that "a picture paints a thousand words"...so instead of going into full detail about each and every thing from the truly blessed weekend that we will never forget, I want to share some photos with you from this momentous occasion. Enjoy...

Thought it would be special to share part of my toast to Parker & Liz that I shared at the Rehearsal Dinner: "I’m so excited to see how the Lord is going to use you two as you become husband and wife tomorrow and start your family from this point forward. My prayer is that through each “marriage moment” you have, each of you will be so filled up with the love of Christ that it spills over to the other one. You’ve heard it all -- the importance of communication, talking through expectations, and learning how to walk in a state of forgiveness and move on...and I pray that as you start to practice these things, you will truly want to out serve the other one and seek the Lord first and foremost because neither of you can satisfy the other like HE can satisfy you."


The passage from Scripture that was expounded upon at the wedding was from Colossians 3:12-17. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” 

The Lord truly spoke through the pastor as he talked about the importance of being filled up with Christ first so that we can overflow with these items mentioned in the Scripture above (compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience) to our spouse. It was a GREAT charge to Parker & Liz as a newly married couple and a FABULOUS reminder to the rest of us on how to love and forgive in our own marriages. 

Congratulations again to Parker & Liz!!! We are so thankful that the Lord brought you two together and look forward to seeing how HE is going to use YOU TWO as TEAM WEBB!!! To God be ALL the glory! 

Quality Time

Talking through the many translations of "quality time"...!!!

These are more than just “two words” that seem to have a nice ring to them! This is something that B and I talk about often. One of my love languages is “quality time”...but the reason we wanted to write about this tonight is to talk about the different ways we each translate this! 

Brandon sees quality time as any time we’re together. For instance, if we have 10 friends over to have a “Scrabble tournament” and spend a fun evening with games & fellowship, at the end of the night...his quality time tank is full. At the end of that same night, I had a wonderful time with the games, friends, & fellowship...but I am then looking forward to at least five minutes or so of one-on-one time with Brandon. I see quality time as time when we are face-to-face, he has my undivided attention and I have his...and he is asking me about my day or talking about something intentional. 

This past week, we got to spend some great quality time together during our babymoon. We had great time in the car on the way there and back, plus great time together clocking 21+ hours together on the beach. It was a blessing to run into some of our friends at the same beach where we were and get to have some great time spent with them as well. It was quite hilarious when we were sitting out on the beach bonding with this other couple (that we knew from Nashville but had not had the opportunity to hear each other’s stories, etc before now) and something came up about how he sees quality time vs. how she sees quality time! 

After we heard how he view it vs. how she views it...the guys were everything but high fiving each other (!!) because the (obviously) saw it the same way...and she and I were t-totally on the same page as well. Refreshing to say the least. Sometimes in those moments where Brandon and I are talking this through, I often wonder if I’m just crazy or something to think of quality time as the TWO of us...not the two of us within a crowd or in the same state! And by state, I literally mean that it has been said before that Brandon feels like we’re together when we’re both spending the day in Alabama...even when he’s driving all over creation and I’m at work!

All in all, it was neat to talk through this with another couple who had recently talked about the very same thing we had...and share different insights with each other. Whenever we do have these conversations, I must say that it’s cool to see Brandon initiate some one-on-one quality time with me...it means the world! And like I mentioned at the start, it doesn’t even have to be long...even five minutes sometimes of “how was your day, babe” is all that it takes! Thankful that God has given us mouths and ears to talk these things through and listen to where the other is coming from. Enjoying the journey of growing together as we talk through the different ways we often “translate” what seems to be the same thing. It’s something to think about if you’re spouse’s love language is quality time. I highly suggest making sure you are both talking about the same TYPE of quality time...ha! 

Two Hands

This past Tuesday night was our "birth class" and needless to say...it was AWESOME. The main focus of this class was "comfort measures" so that we could talk through the different stages of labor and certain massage techniques and positions to be in to relax the body. All that to say, one of the things that really stood out to us was when the teacher had the husbands stand behind the wives and put "two hands" on us. She mentioned that putting two hands (not just one) would let us know that we are ALL THERE and that their attention is fully on us in that moment -- no distractions. There were some relaxation techniques she taught us after this that were fabulous -- then she had us get into certain positions to see what felt most comfortable to us. She encouraged us to practice these so that when we're "in the moment", our body will recognize these and feel peaceful.

 

One of the relaxing positions we practiced!

The reason I wanted to share those details with you is to say this...early this morning, Brandon and I were on the phone and he said, "Babe, I wanted you to know I have been praying for you this morning...a LOT. You know in our class this week when the teacher told me to put two hands on you -- and how that will help you know that I'm all there? I've been thinking a lot about that and asking the Lord this morning to have his hands on you -- that you will know He is right there with you." WOW! I could have cried a river the moment he said this. There is something so special and encouraging to know that my dear husband is interceding on my behalf and going before the throne of the Lord about such things. Thanks be to God! 

I wanted to share this sweet marriage moment with you to say what a blessing it is for me to know that Brandon is praying for me -- and even how special it is when he shares that with me. Maybe you pray for your spouse throughout the day, but have you shared that with them lately? Just a thought - but finding a way to share that with them would be such a blessing. 

Have You Had A Squabble With Your Spouse Lately?

[Brandon speaking] ... How did it turn out? Still holding a grudge? I call these...squabble moments! And they most definitely are marriage moments! 

As married people, we are going to have squabbles with our spouse. When they do come up, and inevitably they will, what do we do to make sure that a squabble doesn’t turn into a bigger deal...a major disagreement/argument?

We had one of these come up the other day over something silly. In our car, it was late Friday afternoon around 6:00pm...driving to Nashville for a friends’ wedding weekend. One thing led to another and somebody said something and we disagreed. So...it’s at that moment of disagreement that what we choose to do as a couple (or you individually choose as a spouse) determines what the rest of the night is going to look like!

Now, what are we up against? For me as a guy...it’s Friday...it’s the end of the week...it’s been a long hard working week...I’m drained, I’m tired...I like to tell Whit when I’m in these situations that I’m “emotionally fragile”...be very careful...I’m not myself...I’m extra selfish right now. And then a disagreement comes along and sets me off. And Whit thankfully -- understands where I am coming from and how the stage was set for all this to play out -- and gives me an extra helping of grace.  In this moment last Friday, I told Whit, “I just need some time to think” (and I went quiet)...I just need some time...to let things simmer and cool down. And with us, the goal is not to win an argument. We’re going to make our point...but it’s not about being right or wrong. It’s about being known. 

Sometimes the scene seems to be set and things primed for this kind of disagreement to be set. It seems that stepping back and gathering my thoughts -- gives me time to calm down, then talk it through...address what went on with tenderness, gentleness, and self-control. It doesn’t make it right when the other person hurts you or says something because they can’t control their tongue -- definitely have to still be accountable for that -- but knowing the bigger situation is half the battle. If you’re the spouse on the receiving end of all this, being graceful and quick to forgive is such a blessing. 

Enjoying the journey!

[Whitney speaking] ... Here’s the deal...I didn’t use to be able to shake these conversations very quickly. I would hold onto them and analyze them to the core and go back to how we even got here and make sure we had the right kind of closure (times a million)...but now I have learned that it’s not worth it to let these little “squabbles” ruin our night. For us, this all got going when we were having a pleasant drive down the road and then low and behold...something came up about how we have a birth class on the night of one of Brandon’s upcoming baseball games. My thought was, “what’s the big deal...you have a ton of games this season”...his take was that this is the second game of the season (he’s already missing game number three) and didn’t want to have to miss the first two out of three games -- after waiting with great anticipation for the season to start. Again, we saw this from two different set of lenses...and I’m sure it doesn’t even sound like that big of a deal to you (!!) but in that moment, it seemed like a big deal. One of the main “take homes” from this night was that all in all...the stage was set (end of long hard working week, tired, in the car driving, etc) for a seemingly small thing to ruffle the feathers. Half of the reason this seemed like such a big deal was the timing and all that this “scheduling faux pas” came up. That was part of my frustration -- because I am such a planner. My thought was, if only I had seen a copy of the baseball schedule...we could have planned our birth class around this. However, in that moment you can’t go back. We could only look at moving forward, talking this through, and then putting this behind us and not letting it put a damper on our evening. And so...that’s just what we did! We had a wonderful rest of the evening and quite a delightful weekend with friends and family. 

We found this quote by Ruth Bell Graham (Billy Graham’s wife) and wanted to share it with you. Felt like this spoke to right where we had been: 

“I pity the married couple who expect too much from one another. It is a foolish woman who expects her husband to be to her that which only Jesus Christ Himself can be: ready to forgive, totally understanding, unendingly patient, invariably tender and loving, unfailing in every area, anticipating every need, and making more than adequate provision. Such expectations put a man under an impossible strain. The same goes for the man who expects too much from his wife.” (Ruth Bell Graham)

God Is So Good!

Whoo! Hard to believe it's already MAY!!! Time flies when you're having fun :) The past month flew by and was more of the "business of life" items like taxes and moving...now it's on to the fun gatherings like weddings, baby showers, and so forth! If you were to come visit our apartment right now -- you wouldn't even believe that we just moved. Everything is in it's "spot" (thanks to an amazing strong hubby & leader who was a champ moving AND to our amazing friends & family that were here at just the right time) and we absolutely love having a room for NELSON! It makes having a baby on-the-way all the more real when we walk by his room and know that it's soon going to be filled with baby items...and in three short months, with our precious SON! 

Speaking of which, we wanted to share with you his full name. For those of you that read our "It's A Boy" post, you will recall that his first name is Nelson! We have been praying over his middle name and are excited to announce that his full name is "Nelson Caleb Nall". We have both loved the name Caleb and wanted his middle name to be a Biblical name...and when we found out it meant "faithful"...that is what sealed the deal for us! As you may remember us mentioning before, the theme of this entire pregnancy has been the Lord reminding us to "walk by faith"...so the name Nelson Caleb Nall is very fitting! 

A precious text we received from a close friend when sharing the full name was so encouraging and such a blessing to us...that we wanted to share it with you: "Caleb was a mighty warrior, honest, a loyal friend, and Godly man. That's my prayer for your little man, too!" AMEN! A huge thank you to each and every one of you that has been praying and will continue to pray for us through this pregnancy, during Nelson's birth, and as he grows up to be a man who loves the Lord. We cannot thank you enough! May the following verse be the theme of our song as we enter into this new month and experience the fullness of God in abundant ways: "Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see - how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him." -Psalm 24:8 (The Message) ... Thankful for YOU!